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Drowned God's Blessing -vs- Mutiny at Craster's Keep

The wording on Mutiny at Craster’s Keep is a bit unusual. The first “choose” is not a targeting instruction, but rather part of determining the cost of the ability. The character you control is sacrificed as part of paying the cost of the ability in Step 4, while targets are not chosen until Step 5 (“Initiating Abilities”, RRG p.10). Therefore, it is not possible for the sacrificed character to be chosen as a target of the ability.

Of course, the word “choose” usually indicates a targeting choice, but there are some cases where the word is used but does not refer to targeting. Usually these are quite obvious (the “choose one” of Tyrion Lannister’s (LOCR) ability; “You may choose not to stand Recruiter for the Watch”), but in this case the confusion is understandable. In general, any player choices that must be made prior to Step 5 (such as choices related to paying costs), are not considered to be targeting choices.

For this reason, Mutiny at Craster’s Keep chooses only 1 target, and therefore Drowned God’s Blessing protects against it.

mplain

Posted 31 August 2017 - 06:41 AM

mplain

Advanced Member

Contributor

1371 posts

Question sent to FFG. Will post the answer here.

- Does Drowned God’s Blessing protect attached character from being targeted by Mutiny at Craster's Keep?

Mutiny uses the word "choose" twice, so my initial assumption is that it has two targets.
However, when trying to sort out its ability using the sequence for Initiating Abilities, I hit a wall.
Costs are paid in step 4, and targets are chosen in step 5.
I cannot choose my character in step 5 to sacrifice it in step 4, that would be time travel...
I know some abilities require choosing targets during the resolution of effects (e.g. Duel, Seen in Flames), but I've never seen a card that requires choosing a target before step 5!
The RRG entry for Sacrifice says: "When a player is instructed to sacrifice a card, that player must choose a card in play that he or she controls and that matches the requirements of the sacrifice, and place it in his or her discard pile."
It appears to me that Mutiny's templating does not follow standard rules, and its use of the word "choose" for the character to be sacrificed is redundant.
Normally I would disregard a minor wording inconsistency like that, but here it seems to make a functional difference, and multiple players have asked me about the interaction between these cards, so now I seek official clarification:

- Does Craster's Keep require choosing one target, or two?

- Does Drowned God’s Blessing care about all targets for an ability, or only about those that are chosen in step 5 of the initiation sequence?

Sulpures

Posted 31 August 2017 - 08:28 AM

mplain

Posted 09 September 2017 - 05:58 AM

mplain

Advanced Member

Contributor

1371 posts

✓ Best Answer

Best Answer

The wording on Mutiny at Craster’s Keep is a bit unusual. The first “choose” is not a targeting instruction, but rather part of determining the cost of the ability. The character you control is sacrificed as part of paying the cost of the ability in Step 4, while targets are not chosen until Step 5 (“Initiating Abilities”, RRG p.10). Therefore, it is not possible for the sacrificed character to be chosen as a target of the ability.

Of course, the word “choose” usually indicates a targeting choice, but there are some cases where the word is used but does not refer to targeting. Usually these are quite obvious (the “choose one” of Tyrion Lannister’s (LOCR) ability; “You may choose not to stand Recruiter for the Watch”), but in this case the confusion is understandable. In general, any player choices that must be made prior to Step 5 (such as choices related to paying costs), are not considered to be targeting choices.

For this reason, Mutiny at Craster’s Keep chooses only 1 target, and therefore Drowned God’s Blessing protects against it.